Farm Fresh: Spring Wedding Flowers Part 2

Just a few weeks after Annie and Erika's wedding, I was back at the market and contacting growers once again for my friend, Karina's, wedding.

I've known Karina since high school where we met working in food service at a local retirement home. She's not your typical bride as she doesn't get caught up with the excitement of flowers or any sort of elaborate wedding planning. Part of her just wanted the formalities of the wedding to be done with. While other brides choose themes, colors, and work out every detail possible by themselves or with their wedding planner,  Karina just put her trust to her friends who have offered to help and with a tight budget, it was certainly challenging, but we made it work.

When I sat down with Karina and her then fiance, Dustin, she really wanted daffodils in her bouquet. Sadly, I had to inform her that daffodils would be done by her May wedding. A few days before the big day, I had dinner with the bride and groom and our friends, Michelle and Molly, who by coincidence, are also getting married this year and have asked me to do their flowers as well. YIKES!

I was running a bit late, but I wanted to give Karina a "pre-wedding bouquet" so she would get a sense of a style that I was leaning towards. To my surprise, these were in bloom:

Narcissus 'Actaea' ( A poeticus type)

The poeticus Narcissus are the last to flower for the season and even thought they weren't the quintessential yellow many would expect from a daffodil, they still make a statement and the rich scent they exude just added something very special to a hand-tied bouquet I created utilizing various ingredients from outside the garden. She didn't believe they were daffodils, but she still enjoyed my creation. Karina is a fairly simple and straightforward gal who, much like Annie and Erika, don't want to go overboard with decorations and such.

 

As I presented her this bouquet, I had something else in mind for her eventual bouquet that would, once again, utilize the wonderful Ranunculus field fresh from Everyday Flowers at the Seattle Wholesale Grower's Market! Her colors are buttered popcorn yellow, navy blue and  ivory.

Vivian delivered the most wonderful Ranunculus and her Anemones were absolutely stunning! I was telling Karina about these and she will now and forever call them "REDUNCULUS"!  When I went to the grower's market, I was treated to a surprise and saw the same Poeticus Narcissus being offered by the bundles from Choice Bulb Farms in Mt. Vernon as well!

So, I went right to work just as soon as I got everything I needed. I'm getting better at being organized when I do my flowers; it helps to really lay them out individually so one can just grab a stem with ease as they bring it all together.

My last stop for flowers and greens was my own garden where Lily of the Valley was in peak bloom. I harvested as much as I could.

So, here's what I was able to pull together. I actually made three bouquets for Karina to choose from:

Michelle holding a bouquet as one of the bridesmaids

The corsage for the parents

And the boutonnieres for the groom and groomsmen.

The venue was at the infamous Museum of Flight in one of their conference rooms that needed a bit of sprucing up so I took my leftover flowers and foliage to create a few more pieces.

 

It's such a great feeling to see a beautiful bride walk down the aisle with something you created specially for her.

The Year of the Dragon

The Lunar New Year is here and the festivities for Chinese New Year are in full swing. While I'm not Chinese nor does my family celebrate Chinese New Year, I can't help but acknowledge it each year as I have many friends that do celebrate it and the happy occasions and traditions seem to have rubbed off on me knowing how significant a holiday it is to those around me.

 

There are aspects of Chinese culture I thoroughly enjoy, the art, the food, and, of course, THE PLANTS! I studied Chinese Brush Painting years ago, I cook Chinese influenced dishes almost every single week and my collection of plants are dominated by species from "the Mother of Gardens".



Plants and flowers play an important role in the festivities for Chinese New Year and there are iconic plants you'll often see at stores such as:


Miniature orange trees or kumquats:

 

Obviously, mandarin oranges do not grow naturally like this, but you'll see these all over China as they symbolize great fortune. The round fruit also symbolize unity and perfection.

Chinese Sacred Lilies:

So the Chinese started the whole forcing of paperwhites, but they do them more elaborately often carving the bulbs into unique shapes and their flowering is always timed so they're in full, gloriously fragrant bloom come Chinese New Year! Known as Shui Xian Hua (water goddess flower) and botanically known as Narcissus tazetta v. chinensis

 

Lucky Bamboo:

 

Everyone is familiar with Lucky Bamboo (not really a bamboo, but botanically known as Dracaena sanderiana) and you'll see more of them during the Chinese New Year decorated and often contorted in many different shapes and forms. They are easily grown in water and make a low maintenance house plant and as the same suggests, symbolize luck and goof fortune.

The year of the dragon reminds me so many plants that I grow that have "DRAGON" in their name.


The first plant that comes to mind is Poncirus (now classified as Citrus) trifoliata 'Flying Dragon'. It is a hardy plant for us in the Pacific Northwest and it is highly unusual with its contorted branches, dark stems and occasional fruit. I've used it in container plantings, but I've yet to get mine in the ground as it looks smashing in a pot and I'm not quite sure where it'll go in the garden.

 Then there's the rampant Persicaria 'Red Dragon' with it's deep red and silver cast to the foliage.














An impulse purchase at a local nursery was this rare Polygonatum that I thought I had lost, but I think I managed to save a piece of the rhizome. This is a variety called 'Jeweled Dragon'

 













Next is a conifer that's readily available in the trade and one I really should be growing, but again, not sure where it's going to go, but this 'Black Dragon' Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) is a handsome plant that doesn't get too large. Getting to about 7-8ft. tall and wide in 15-20 years, which is pretty compact so it lends itself to container work and a small urban garden. So, it's slow growing and quite low maintenance.












恭禧發財!! Gong Xi Fa Cai (mandarin) Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese)


Happy Chinese New Year!



Riz

CHELSEA 2011 REPORT - Part Four: The Main Marquee

Ok, time for another post of Chelsea Flower Show Highlights.

One of the most spectacular aspects of Chelsea is the incredible floral and horticultural displays inside the main marquee.

Talk about FLOWER SHOW, OMFG, it was remarkable. Some of the stands were small than I had envisioned, but to see the array of displays and the meticulous detail exhibitors showcase in their stands is really first rate.

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The crowds were insane! Even during press day and then the first members day, the show grounds and the marquee were jammed packed full of enthusiastic plant lovers trying to catch a glimpse of every display. It was wall-to-wall old lady after old lady sprinkled in a mix of men: supportive husbands, hardcore plantsmen, gay couples and even young children which I always seem to look out for.

Speaking of children, one of the highlights of the marquee for me wasn't a botanical display, but a pair of young garden enthusiast who I enjoyed chatting with as they shared information about the display they helped put together. I asked them questions about what their favorite plants were and to get a response like, "Oh, how could I choose. I love them all! THE GERBERAS! I'd have to say the Gerbera daisies because they add so much colour" the young 8 year old boy stated. What 8-year old freakin' knows what a gerbera is?!!! It was awesome!


Bulbs were in full display and are well represented in Chelsea:


I've become fonder and fonder of Flowering Onions (Allium) and the assortment on display was remarkable.


Daffodils in late May are an extraordinary sight and getting these varieties to flower all at the same time is no easy feat!


Tulips as well; getting these to flower all at the same time is exceedingly difficult, but when you do it each year, you've got it down, but often nature can easily throw a curve-ball at you and something you had originally wanted to showcase calls for a change in plans:

So, this remarkable tulip is called 'Wow'. No, seriously, that's what it's called simply because when anyone sees it, they think "HOLY MOTHER OF....., WHAT IS THAT??!"


You just can't help but think about just how bizarre and exotic this is! Sadly the quality of the flowers and stems weren't up to the quality of the overall exhibit so they nixed these and I had to ask the exhibitor to sneak behind the prep area to snap a photo!

A flower show experience would not be complete without me getting to see and experience the wonderful world of Lilium and, boy, was I in for a treat:

Lilies have always had a place in a show like this and for good reason. The extravagant flowers are eye-catching and the fragrance of many of them just draws you in and makes you fall in love with them. Again, a huge challenge to get them to flower all at the same time, these arrangements showcases mostly cut flowers varieties which are long lasting both in the vase and out in the garden. And another display really showcases the diversity of Lilies and how far they've come in just the last few years in recent developments in breeding for new and exciting varieties.

This display was remarkable in that it represented lilies that normally would bloom at different times during the summer. From early Asiatics to the late-blooming Orientals (varieties like the common 'Stargazer' or 'Casablanca' to the hybrids between them. It was outstanding!

Introduced last year and certainly still making waves is a lily that I'm DYING to get on this side of the pond based on the raves and reviews I've heard about this most special hybrid:

Let me introduce Lilium 'Kushi Maya':


Bred from the rare and exotic Lilium nepelense, this hybrid combines the coloration and bloom placement of the species with the flower size and vigor of a modern day hybrid (in this case, an oriental x trumpet cross). The scent is enchanting and absolutely remarkable and I'm dying to secure a few bulbs this fall.


I have never seen carnivorous plants the way I admired them at Chelsea because they were quite prominent and each display was simply outrageous!


Nepenthes and other exotics were in full display.


As are pitcher plants and fly traps!


And, again, no detail is overlooked! Not a strand of moss missplaced!

Ok, overwhelmed yet?? I'll stop for now and give you some time to process this...haaha


Cheers,

R